The objective of the Decision Deck project is to collaboratively develop open-source software tools implementing Multiple Criteria Decision Aid (mcda) techniques. This chapter presents three selected initiatives from this project, namely the XMCDA data standard, the XMCDA web-services and the diviz software, which altogether enable to test and combine various mcda algorithms via a unified data ...

The selection of metrics for ecosystem restoration programs is critical for improving the quality and utility of design and monitoring programs, informing adaptive management actions, and characterizing project success. The metrics selection process, that in practice is left to the subjective judgment of stakeholders, is often complex and should simultaneously take into account monitoring data,...

BACKGROUND Since the introduction of the orphan drugs legislation in Europe, it has been suggested that the general method of assessing drugs for reimbursement is not necessarily suitable for orphan drugs. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence indicated that several criteria other than cost and efficacy could be considered in reimbursement decisions for orphan drugs. This st...

Decisions about infrastructure projects or new policies in the transport sector have traditionally been based on cost benefit analysis (CBA). However, as society in general becomes more and more complex, this affects the decisionmaking process. Thus decision-makers are confronted with the difficult problem of evaluating potential outcomes and choosing policies to achieve the desired outcomes in...

The choice among alternative water supply sources is generally based on the fundamental objective of cost minimisation. There is, however, a need to consider sustainability, the environment and social implications in regional water resources planning, in addition to economics. In order to achieve this, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques can be used. There are a large number of M...

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is widely used for identifying the major components of statistically distributed point clouds. Robust versions of PCA, often based in part on the l norm (rather than the l norm), are increasingly used, especially for point clouds with many outliers. Neither standard PCA nor robust PCAs can provide, without additional assumptions, reliable information for outli...

Untreated twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) is associated with significant mortality and neurological impairment. Fetoscopic laser surgery (FLS) is the treatment of choice. We sought to assess intracranial abnormalities in TTTS twins following treatment. In this prospective, blinded study MRI scans were performed on 3 groups; (1) monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twins with TTTS who had under...

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is well-equipped to deal with conflicting objectives when evaluating strategic options. Scenario Planning provides a framework for confronting uncertainty which MCDA lacks. Integration of these methods offers various advantages, yet its effective application in evaluating strategic options would benefit from scenarios that reflect a larger number of wide-...

We consider multicriteria decision-aid (MCDA) problems with multiple decision makers. In such problems, the uncertainty or inaccuracy of the criteria measurements can be represented as probability distributions. In many real-life problems the uncertainties may be dependent. However, it is often difficult to quantify these dependencies. Also most of the existing MCDA methods are unable to handle...

BACKGROUND Consistent healthcare decision making requires systematic consideration of decision criteria and evidence available to inform them. This can be tackled by combining multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) and Health Technology Assessment (HTA). The objective of this study was to field-test a decision support framework (EVIDEM), explore its utility to a drug advisory committee and test...